gogkee



(No Mdel.)

J.. N GOGKER 3 shees-sheet 1.

PTATO HARVESTER. r Y No. 463,098. Patented Nov. 10,1891.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. N. COCKBR.

PoTATo HARVESTER.

No. 463,098. Patent-ed Nov. 10, 1891.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. N. GOCKER.

PoTATo HARVESTER.

110.463,098. Patented Nov. 10,1891.

VUNITED, STATES PAT-ENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH N. COOKER, OF W'EST DEVONPORT, TASMANIA.

'POTATO-HARVESTER.

, SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 463,098, dated November 10, 1891.

Application filed May 29, 1891. Serial No. 394,593. (No model.) Patented in England December 15, 1890, No. 20,4431; ill

France May 26, 1891, No. 213,708, and inrBelgium May 26, 1891, No. 95.008.

No. 20,443, which patent, when granted, will,

bear date December l5, 1890,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention has been devised for the purpose of, providing a machine which will raise potatoes from the ground, clean them,

and deposit them in bags or elsewhere without bruising or otherwise injuring them and without requiring the expenditure of so much time and labor as has hitherto been necessary.

The essential feature of this improved potato-harvester consists in the employment of a large elevator-wheel, having projecting vanes or blades, arranged to work inside a xed screen of bars, extending about a third round its circumference. This elevator-wheel is driven by rolling along the ground and serves to carry the potatoes, turned into the fixed screen by a plowshare, to the upper end of the screen, where they are delivered onto an inclined inner screen, leading them by a lateral chute to a trough, where they are from time to time discharged. The soil which fallsV through this inner screen is directed by another inclined chute to the ground at the side of the machine.

Figure 'l of the accompanying drawings is a side view, Fig. 2 is a plan, and Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken in front of the axle of the elevator-wheel, looking from the front, of a potato-harvester according to my invention.

A framing A, which is preferably made of angle or 'T iron, is carried upon three wheels A A2 A3. The axletree of the wheel A2 is pivoted at A1 to the framing, and can be adjusted by a screw A5, worked by the driver, who occupies a seat A, and who, by means of a lever A7, can steer the front wheel A3. A share B, carried on an arm B', pivoted to the frame at B2, can be lowered or raised by alever B3, so as to penetrate more or less deeply into the ground. The rim C of the elevatorwheel, which is carried by spokes from bosses C revolving on a fixed axletree, supported by the framing A, rolls along at the side of the furrow formed by the share B, which has lts back portion B4 formed as a curved mold- D on the one side of the wheel, a set of bars D2, outside its circumference, having their lower ends attached to a plate D5, and a set of bars D2 occupying an oblique position on the other side of the wheel. These gratings extend up from the share B to D4, inclosing about one-third ofthe circumference of the Wheel. At about the height where the gratings inclosing the outside of the wheel terminate another set of grating-bars E are arranged parallel to the plane of revolution, but on an inclination toward the farther slde. Beyond them are a set of inclined bars E at right angles to the former, and farther round another set of bars E2, all these forming'a grated platform within the circumference 1n which the blades C2 revolve, all inclined down toward an outer inclined grating E2, forming the bottom of a trough, having two sides E4 and a hinged front E5. To the one side of and under the gratings E E E2 is fixed a curved plate E6. The bars of the gratings D D2 D3 and of E, E E2, and E3 are placed at such distances apart as to let soil freely through between them, but not potatoes, and y these intervals may be made adjustable to suit different soils or crops.

The machine operates in the following manner: The soil and roots plowed up by the share B are guided by its curved back B4 onto lower part of the cage, formed by the gratings D D2 D3. Here they are caught by the blades G2 and carried up along the gratings, much of the soil escaping through the interstices of the bars. As the blades C2 pass above the level of the axis of the wheel, they begin to incline inward, delivering the roots and such soil as remains with them onto the platform, consisting of the bars E E E2,whence they slide or fall onto the platform E2. The

soil, now almost entirely separated from the roots, falling through between the bars, drops onto the curved plate E, by which itis guided away to the ground at the side of the machine. When the trough E3 E4 E5 is suiciently filled, the door E5 is turned down on its hinges, as indicated by the dotted lines, delivering the potatoes onto the ground or into trucks or receptacles provided to receive them. In some cases it is of advantage to arrange another plowshare in front of the rim C, especially when the ground is stony, in order to clear the way and form a path for the Wheel.

Having thus described the nature of my invention, and the best means of carrying the same into practical eect, I claim- In a potato-harvester, the combination of a frame carried on two side Wheels, andasteering-Wheel, an elevator-Wheel carried on the frame and havinginwardly-projecting blades, a share-plow, provided with mold-board grat- May, A. D. 18491.

JOSEPH N. COCKER. Witnesses:

OLIVER IMRAY, PazienlAgenl, 28 Southampton Build/ings, Lonclon, I/V. C'.

JNO. P. M. MILLARD, Clerk lo Messrs. Abel c@ Immy, Consulting Engineers and PuenlAgents, 2 8 Southampton Buildings, London, I/V. O. 

